Viewpoint: Unheard voices from the Global South speak up

For many reasons, the voices of researchers from the Global South often go unheard. Many of these reasons are financial; big international conferences are frequently held at places that require distant travel, and registration and travel fees can be beyond the reach of modestly-funded scientists.  Visa challenges and systemic biases also contribute. In 2023, Auge and Estévez coordinated a concurrent symposium at the International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR) to highlight these unheard voices. In this article, the authors further amplify the voices of the symposium speakers but also the impediments to their being heard, and they provide recommendations to secure greater diversity in academic conferences. (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching) J. Exp. Bot. 10.1093/jxb/erae027